Information about Manila, MNL

Manila, also known as the Pearl of the Orient, is located in Southern Luzon, the largest of the more than 7,000 islands that make up the nation known as the Philippines. The city flanks Manila Bay, and is divided into northern and southern sections by the Pasig River. Manila serves not only as the country’s capitol, but also as its financial, publishing, and business center. The citizens of the city speak Tagalog, but most are also fluent in English, which is the language of instruction in the public schools. Manila contains many of the country’s largest and most prestigious universities and is also home to the National Library. It was the central location of the nation’s battles for independence, first from Spain and later from the United States. Colonized by the Spanish and later governed by the Americans, Manila shows the signs of foreign influence in the widespread Roman Catholicism and the modeling of its schools upon the American educational system. Despite these influences, Manila and its citizens demonstrate a character and vitality uniquely their own.

The City of Manila (Filipino: Lungsod ng Maynila), or simply Manila, is the capital of the Philippines and one of the municipalities that comprise Metro Manila. The city is located on the eastern shore of Manila Bay on Luzon, the country’s largest island. Manila is the hub the Metro Manila area, also known as the National Capital Region (NCR), a thriving metropolitan area consisting of seventeen cities and municipalities which is home to over 10 million people. Manila is the second most populous city proper in the Philippines, with more than 1.5 million inhabitants. Only nearby Quezon City, the country’s former capital, is more populous.

The name Manila comes from may nilad, Tagalog for “there is nilad,” referring to the flowering mangrove plant that grew on the marshy shores of the bay. In the sixteenth century, Manila (then Maynilad) grew from an Islamic settlement on the banks of the Pasig River into the seat of the colonial government of Spain when it controlled the Philippine Islands for over three centuries from 1565 to 1898. After the end of the Spanish-American War in 1898, the United States occupied and controlled the city and the Philippine archipelago until 1946. During World War II, much of the city was destroyed. The Metropolitan Manila region was enacted as an independent entity in 1975. Today, the city and the metropolis thrive as an important cultural and economic center. However, overpopulation, traffic congestion, pollution, and crime challenge the city.

Manila packs a lot of culture into a small space – many of its major sites are in the walled Intramuros, including the Spanish-era Fort Santiago with its shrine-museum to José Rizal, Manila Cathedral, UNESCO-listed San Agustin Church (the Philippines’ oldest), Casa Manila museum of Spanish colonial furniture and art, and Rizal Bagumbayan Light and Sound Museum of colonial and modern history. Other venues in which to learn about Filipino history and culture and art are the Bahay Tsinoy museum of Chinese history, Ayala Museum of Filipino history and artifacts, National Museum of Anthropology, Malacañang Palace presidential museum, and National Museum of Fine Arts, while for kids there’s the Exploreum science museum, Museo Pambata children’s museum and the National Museum of Natural History.

A densely populated city melding many different cultures and influences, Manila is unsurprisingly lively all-year-round, with religious processions, live music, theatre, famous drag shows or plenty of speakeasies and videoke/karaoke bars.

Traditional and new-wave Filipino, Spanish and Chinese fare lead the eclectic dining scene in Manila, but locals are also mad about Japanese food, American diner classics and global food in general – meaning everyone will find something to please and new flavours to experience, all of it stunningly great value. Don’t miss seafood made to your taste at a dampa such as Pasay, where you buy ingredients to be cooked at an on-site restaurant.